Rebirth of a Star
by Sheath Shace Lia
Summary: She had to restrain a cheer when she caught sight of a pipe up ahead, relieved that she hadn't even needed to fight anything. If the last one was this easy, she had nothing to worry about. LOOK! A NEW CHAPTER! FOR REALZ!
1. Prologue: Legacy

Rebirth of a Star

Prologue: Legacy

Bowser growled as Mario stepped forward, a fireball crackling to life in the plumber's hand. Mario's younger brother, Luigi, was off to the side of the battlefield comforting the princess of the Mushroom Kingdom, Peach Toadstool. Both watched as the two foes faced off, the hair on the backs of their necks prickled uncomfortably. Despite the fact that they'd seen this all before, it felt different somehow…

Thunder rumbled, and as if this were the cue the Koopa was waiting for, Bowser charged, head lowered, intending to impale the hero on his horns. But Mario swiftly leapt up into the air and blasted three fireballs at the Koopa King. The fireballs simply singed the Koopa's tough shell as Bowser whipped around and sliced Mario's chest open with his claws.

As Mario regained his footing, he clutched his wound and watched as the blood stained his white gloves. Thunder rumbled and the skies opened up, the rain began washing away the blood from the wound, but not from his gloves.

Bowser looked up at sky and laughed as the rain came down, soaking the battlefield, making it slick and difficult to maneuver on. Mario stared at the deranged Koopa King, laughing at the sky. Laughing at the gods.

Mario gritted his teeth as he ran at the Koopa, determined to end the fight with one fell strike. Bowser saw him coming, however, and unleashed his fiery breath in the direction of the plumber. Mario leapt over the flames and kicked the Koopa in the face, making the Koopa King slide back a few feet and clutch his face in pain, howling in rage.

Mario wasted no time blasting the Koopa with fireballs, nailing both of Bowser's shoulders before the Koopa retreated into his shell and flung himself at the plumber, who leapt over the assault only to be burnt by Bowser's flame breath. Mario cried out as he felt the burning sensation enveloped the entire right side of his body.

Bowser laughed as he heard Mario's cry of pain. That was so satisfying to the Koopa King… to hear his enemies crying out in pain, begging for mercy.

Peach buried her face in her hands, she was not used to witnessing such brutality, such violence. Luigi could do nothing but sit there with a look of shock and pain on his face as Bowser approached his elder brother to deliver the final blow.

Mario looked fiercely at his opponent as Bowser drew closer and closer. The plumber was unable to do anything to escape his fate… but still he stared at Bowser with such ferocity that perhaps he thought that the look alone could kill the Koopa King.

"Beg for mercy, plumber."

"Never-a."

"Stubborn to the end, I see."

"This-a is-a only the beginning-a. There will-a be others-a, other-a heroes-a to stand-a against-a you." Mario said, a fire burning in his eyes. Bowser roared as he rammed his claws through Mario's chest, quickly snuffing out what remained of the hero's life.

---

"He's won…" Kamek whispered as he cleaned his glasses. The Magikoopa had been watching the battle through his looking glass, and was unsure of what to do now. He supposed the best thing to do would be to inform the troops, but that may be something that his lord would prefer to do personally…

Kamek walked up the castle stairs, walking towards the tower that had been the battlefield. He threw open the doors and moved to his master's side, healing the Koopa King's wounds with his magic.

"What do we do with the princess and the other plumber, your highness?" The Magikoopa inquired, issuing to the pair, who were huddled together, whimpering in fear and distress.

"Send the plumber to the dungeons, and lock the princess securely in one of the guest bedrooms," Bowser growled as he left the Magikoopa to deal with the humans. The Koopa King had a speech to deliver…

---

"I've called you all here for one reason… to tell you this. All the times we've tried, all the energy we've wasted, all the pain we've endured… it has finally bore fruit! The Mushroom Kingdom is now at our mercy!

"Mario is vanquished, and we no longer need fear him or his brother again! Tonight will be a night of celebration! VICTORY!" Bowser roared to his troops as they chanted his final word, "VICTORY!"

---

"I don't believe it, it's finally over!" Lemmy laughed as he accompanied his eldest brother, Ludwig, to the west wing.

"Considering our energy output tovards ze intended goal, our success vuz inefitable."

"Uh…right… So are you going to go to the party?" Lemmy asked, tilting his head curiously.

"No, Lemuvul I am not."

"Why not?"

"Time vaits for no Koopa. I haff projects zat require completion, celebration or none."

"Oh… Well, have fun then!" Lemmy smiled as he navigated his ball down the staircase that led to the party, and Ludwig continued on his way to his laboratory.

---

Ludwig wasn't the only one who wasn't in the mood to attend the party. Kamek had also passed on the offer; he was far too old and frail to attend. All he wanted was to take a nice nap and perhaps to meditate a little.

After the Magikoopa had gotten himself comfortable in his bed, he closed his eyes and quickly drifted off to sleep.

- Dream Sequence - -

Mario's cap was falling through the air, flipping over and over when suddenly it landed on the head of a young woman. She stood at the top of a hill looking down on Darkland, her long brown hair being blown about by the wind.

Her eyes were sapphire blue and in them burned a fire. Suddenly the flames sprang from her eyes and enveloped Darkland. The flames then struck the seven Koopalings and finally the King himself was crying out for mercy, but there was none.

- Dream Sequence End - -


	2. Chapter One: Game Over Continue?

Rebirth of a Star

Chapter One: Game Over. Continue?

4 Plit years later…

"Children, I suppose you're wondering why I have requested you to quadruple your roaming guard populous recently?" Bowser asked as his children all got themselves seated at their round meeting table.

"Yeah, KingDad; whyareyoumakin'usquadrupleourguards? It'sreallyhardtogetpeople tovolunteercuz'mylandisadesertandthere'shardlyanyonethereanywayscuz'ithasverypoor livingconditions! It'snotfair!" Morton babbled quickly without taking a breath.

"Uh…what?" Bowser looked at the 11-year-old, confusion evident on his face.

"I beliefe vut my talkatif bruzzer is trying to express is ze fact zat he finds it unfair zat you haff placed such a high standard upon his land, und he finds it difficult to cope because his land has a smaller population zan ours, due to poor lifing conditions." Ludwig clarified.

"Err…" Bowser stared blankly at his eldest son.

"What they're tryin' ta' say is that Morton thinks it's not fair that you made him increase the guards, cuz' his land has a low population as it is." Lemmy clarified.

"Oh… well, tough cookies Morton, I'm the king and what I say goes!"

"Why'd ya' call us all here for, anyways?" Larry whined, getting impatient.

"Thank-you for reminding me Larry, otherwise I would have forgotten! I called you all here to give you a warning. Do you remember the prophecy Kamek made 4 years ago at the victory celebration?" Bowser looked at his offspring, the expressions on their faces ranged from complete confusion to silent contemplation. "It seems some of you don't, so I'll tell you what I remember. Kamek predicted that the reincarnation of Mario would be a sixteen-year-old girl, and she would overthrow us easily."

"But King Dad, it's only been 4 years since Mario's death, his reincarnation would only be four at most," Larry said, confused.

"True… if ze child vuz born here, but I don't beliefe zat is true… ze child vuz likely born on Earze, correct?" Ludwig inquired, looking at his father. Bowser nodded.

"I still don't get it…" Larry growled in frustration.

"On Earth, time passes four times faster… so while only four years have passed here, sixteen have passed there," Bowser explained to the youngest Koopaling patiently.

"Oh…" Larry nodded, finally understanding.

"So, keep your eyes open for the girl, and if you see her contact me immediately, understood?" Bowser looked sternly at the Koopalings, one by one.

"Yes, King Dad." They said in unison.

---

_What an amazing learning experience! _The girl thought as she looked at the huge skyscraper next to her. She had finally achieved her dream of traveling to Japan, technological capital of the world! She was there with a few of her friends and right now they were touring downtown Tokyo when a building caught her eye. It looked old and abandoned.

"Excuse me, Sumikyo-san?" The girl asked their tour guide.

"Yes, Mary-chan?" The tour guide, named Sumikyo, responded.

"What building is that?" Mary asked, pointing to the giant abandoned building.

"That is the old Nintendo building, they were a gaming company until they closed down July 14th sixteen years ago, under the mysterious premise that there had been an accident," Sumikyo explained.

"July 14, sixteen years ago? That's my birthday!" Mary gasped, taking a step back.

"Ooh, creepy," her friend said sarcastically.

"Yes, what's even creepier is at night, supposedly, lights are seen at the forth floor windows." Sumikyo said, issuing to the windows in question. Mary crossed her arms and shuddered.

"Ghosts…"

"Another thing that's odd about this place is that despite the fact that it's abandoned the doors aren't actually locked, in fact we could go in and look around right now if you want."

"I don't know…" Apparently the thought of ghosts were still fresh in Mary's mind.

"Ghosts don't show up in the middle of day anyway. Come on Mary, live a little!" Mary's friend grinned, hanging off her shoulder. Mary looked at her friend, and sighed, giving in.

---

Inside the building everything was covered with a thick layer of dust. The small group looked around and Sumikyo walked towards the elevator and pressed the up button.

"I don't think it works…" Mary's friend said, after waiting for a few minutes.

"Oh well, I guess that means we can go then…" Mary said, heading for the door.

"Ah-ah-ah, Miss Scaredy-cat, we'll just take the stairs." Mary's friend grinned as he grabbed her shoulder, pointing to the staircase.

The adventurers walked up the stairs and looked at all the strange signs on the doors: The Programmer's Room, The Manager's Room. Most of the doors were unlocked and the stuff in the rooms was ordinary.

"Hmm… this door is locked." Sumikyo sighed as she struggled with the knob.

"The Inspiration Room? What a weird name for a room, huh guys?" Mary grinned as she read the sign and tried the door handle herself. Much to her surprise the knob turned and the door opened. "Hey! I guess the handle was just stuck, guys!" No response. "Guys!" She panicked as she looked around to discover she was alone.

She stood there for a while, simply waiting for them to come back, but eventually she got bored of just waiting. She poked her nose into the "Inspiration Room", expecting to see old newspaper clippings or art or anything but what she actually found, which was the opening of a big green pipe sitting in the middle of the room.

"How the heck do you get 'inspiration' from a pipe?" Mary groaned. She hated when she didn't understand something. "Maybe you… no, that doesn't make sense. Maybe you jump in the pipe and it helps you to concentrate, 'cause it blocks out noise and stuff…"

She looked down the pipe, it seemed dark and fathomless, not to mention creepy. She leaned over a little further and lost her balance!

But at the last second she spread-eagled herself over the opening of the pipe. "Whew… that was close…" she smiled in relief. Although now she had a bit of a problem, she was stuck there until someone came along to give her a hand.

"MARY!" Someone's voice yelled out loudly. Mary screamed and leapt up and landed straight in the pipe.

---

Triangles, circles and squares… that's all she would see for the rest of her life… Circles, squares and triangles…

---

She woke up lying on a grassy hilltop, far from Japan, far from everything and everyone she'd ever known.

"Am I dead? Is this heaven?" Mary groaned as she sat up. She looked left and right, unsure of what to do or where to go from here, when suddenly she spotted something extremely unusual. A pair of bipedal turtles wearing helmets and carrying hammers was walking along a dirt path.

Suddenly the two reptiles noticed her, and after they got over their initial shock of seeing the human girl they approached her.

"You! State your name and business!" The first one growled as he approached her.

"I'm Mary and-"

"Your full name please," the second one elaborated, sounding much kinder than the first.

"I am Mary Ophelia, but please call me Mary or even Mary O. and I'm a little lost… ya' see I fell down a pipe and the next thing I know I'm here! Wherever here is…"

"This is Grass Land in the Mushroom Kingdom…" The second one said helpfully.

"Cool… not very original, but cool. And what are you guys called?"

"I'm Sam and that's Gus, we're Hammer Brothers! Proud members of the Koopa Klan!" The second one said as he straightened himself up.

"Neat! Now could you direct me to the nearest pipe to Earth? I'd really appreciate it," Mary smiled as she looked at Sam.

"You're from Earth, huh?" Gus growled.

"No, I'm from Mars… Of course I'm from Earth, where else would I be from!" Mary remarked snidely.

"And how old are you, precisely?"

"I'm sixteen, but I don't see what that has to do with anything…"

"Hang on a sec, Sam and I have to go have a private chat," Gus smiled falsely as he dragged Sam along by his shell.

---

"What is it?" Sam whispered, looking confused.

"What is it? What is it! Remember Master Larry's warning about the sixteen-year-old girl?"

"Vaguely…"

"Well, did the thought ever occur to you that this was the sixteen-year-old girl he was warning us about?"

"But she's not hurtin' anyone…"

"Doesn't matter. Remember Master Larry's orders? 'If ya' see a sixteen-year-old girl… get rid of her.'"

"But-"

"No ifs, ands, or buts. Come on, let's go do our duty."

---

Mary watched as the pair returned, Gus held his weapons at the ready, while Sam looked depressed and was slowly drawing out his hammers. Suddenly Gus flung his hammer at the girl, who screamed and dove out of the way in the nick of time. Suddenly another hammer, flung by Sam, just about collided with her head. She attempted to scramble to her feet as the two approached, but Sam leapt on top of her and pinned her down. Gus approached menacingly, hammer swinging lazily in his right hand.

"Any last words?"

Mary was about to plead for her life when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. It was a turtle shell, coming at high speed towards them… but she would not get to see what happened next because that was when Gus brought his hammer down on her head…

(A/N: Thanks to all those who reviewed my prologue, it's nice to know other people's opinions on your writing so you know what to improve. Tell me which parts you liked, or didn't like, because I appreciate your opinion. And please review! )


	3. Chapter Two: Firestorm in Grassland

Rebirth of a Star

Chapter Two: Firestorm in Grassland

(A/N: Thank-you Gantz Gun and ebtwisty9! I was so afraid that I was taking such a huge risk skipping all that time, and I was afraid I messed up on the accents and characterization on certain characters particularily Bowser… I'm glad that you think my story is worth a read, and a review!)

Mary woke up, her head pounding. She groaned as she slowly sat up and looked around. She found herself in a quaint little bedroom, rather bare and empty…

"Oh, you're awake! That's good, Koops and I were worried you'd never wake up…" a female voice said joyfully.

Instantly Mary swung around, startled, and came nose-to-bill with another one of those weird bipedal turtles. Mary cried out as she leapt into a sloppy fighter's stance. The female turtle thing stepped back, her hands raised in a gesture of peace. "Please… I'm not gonna' hurt you…"

"Sorry, no offense or nothing, but the last two turtle things I met tried ta' kill me, so excuse me if I don't quite trust you…" Mary said, said backing away.

"If that's what ya' want…" the female said as she in a chair opposite the young woman. They sat there in silence for a while…

"So… umm… what are you, exactly?"

"I'm a Koopa."

"Koopa?"

"Yeah. My name's Koopie. Koopie Koo."

"Oh. I'm Mary. Mary Ophelia."

"Koops'll be here soon ta' explain everything, Mary. He's just at a village meeting."

"This 'Koops' fella', is he…?"

"A Koopa? Yeah, he's my husband." Mary smiled as she approached the female Koopa and took her hand and shook it warmly.

"I'm sorry, I've been very rude… You took me in and helped me when I needed it and I was very racist in response. Can you forgive me?"

"It's alright, consider yourself forgiven," Koopie smiled.

---

"Master Larry! Master Larry!" The two Hammer Brothers scrambled over each other to reach the throne.

"What is it?" A shadowy figure growled, shifting in the throne.

"A girl… a human girl with long brown hair was spotted on road 22 en route to Flora Village, we went to intercept but…"

"But what?"

"Another Koopa interfered, the identity of the Koopa is thought to be Koops Troopa, suspected rebel leader of the area…"

"Interestin'… tell me somethin', did this girl remind you of anyone?"

"Yeah, she gave off an aura similar to The Enemy's."

"I thought as much… very well, you can go," the figure dismissed the pair with a wave of his claw, "but don't think I forgot your failure, you'll be punished eventually."

After the pair left, the figure sat there for a few moments, contemplating his next course of action… King Dad had ordered that he contact him if there was any sign of the girl, but at the same time, what made Kamek's "prophecy" right? I mean Kamek had predicted that Mario would defeat his dad, but where was his dad? Ruling the Mushroom Kingdom. And where was Mario? Six feet under.

The Koopaling sighed as he drew out his wand and the tip ignited a brilliant green.

"This better be important, Larry," a voice growled, emanating from the wand.

"It is. She's been spotted… I'm already working on a plan ta' lure her out inta' the open."

"Any special skills?"

"None yet."

"Good luck."

"Thanks, King Dad."

- - -

"So… Koops saved me from those other turtle things… what were they called again? Oh, right! Hammer Brothers… I guess I owe him one, huh?" Mary smiled, the two had been talking for over an hour now, but nothing really important had come up in their conversation, and anytime Mary asked a question about stuff like the Koopa Klan, or the Mushroom Kingdom or how to get back to Earth, Koopie said that Koops would answer her questions when he got home.

"Honey, I'm back! How's the girl?" A voice called, as they heard the door open and close.

"She's up and about, askin' all kinds of questions. She says her name's Mary!"

"Well Mary, think you can save those questions 'til after supper?" As Koops brought up the topic of food, she felt her stomach twinge uncomfortably; she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast that morning…

"Food sounds good… I guess I can wait a little longer…"

---

After a relatively small meal of Turtly Salad and Mushroom Roast, the three sat in silence for a while…

"I suppose I can't keep you waiting forever can I, Mary? So, what is it you'd like to know?" Koops sighed.

"I dunno', what do ya' wanna' tell me?" Mary asked, hunching over in her chair.

"Well… where to start?" Koops sighed, "I guess I'll start at the beginning… many years ago there was a man named Mario-"

"What does that have to do with me?"

"Be patient and you'll find out," Koopie scolded the young woman.

"As I was saying, there was a man named Mario from Earth, and he defended the Mushroom Kingdom from the constant threat of the Koopa Klan-"

"There's that name again!"

"Shhh!"

"Oh right, continue."

"However… four years ago he was overcome by the might of the Koopa Klan's leader, Bowser. At this time a prophecy was made… Mario would be reincarnated as a sixteen-year-old girl with long brown hair and blue eyes…"

"And you think that girl is me? That's not possible, if he died four years ago-"

"Forgive me for interrupting you, but time flows differently here… four years here is equivalent to sixteen years on Earth, thusly you are the correct age…"

"Me? The reincarnation of a hero?" Mary scoffed, yet deep inside she felt concerned. "I just want to go home!"

"Well, the princess is the only one who can open a warp pipe to Earth, and she's been held captive for the last four years by Bowser, so either way… you have to get to Darkland and defeat Bowser…"

"…" Mary said nothing in response… "I think… I need to take a walk and think things through a little…"

"Don't go too far, it's going to be dark soon."

---

This is crazy! One minute my future looks so bright and free, and now it seems as if it's all planned out for me…well Mary, you said you wanted to do something interesting with your life, what's more interesting than rescuing some damsel in distress in some weird fantasy world?

Who'da guessed you'd find yourself up to your neck in crap just cause you have long brown hair and blue eyes? I mean… me a hero? I'm afraid of my own shadow for Heaven's sake! How am I supposed to save anyone when most of the time I can't even save myself! I'm sixteen years old, I'm no adult…

_What do I do? Do I resist "destiny" or do I go along with it? Those people, if you can call them that, were so nice…and I owe that guy, Koops, for saving my life…I'd feel responsible if I didn't do what's expected of me…I guess I ought to do the right thing…_

---

Mary lay in the field where she had arrived in this strange world of mushrooms and turtles and whatever else and simply relaxed. Someone once told her that if there was something she didn't like, she should relax in its presence and thusly absorb a better understanding of the thing.

Eventually she dozed off… waking up flustered about a few hours later when she realized it was dark and she was late getting back to the village. She got up and brushed herself off, heading back up the hill.

When she cleared the crest she gasped at the sight in front of her, the village was under attack! Koopa women and children were running every which way as the men held off the intruding Hammer Brothers, while other Hammer Brothers were setting the buildings alight with torches and watching with delight as they burned to the ground. Off to the side she saw what looked like one of those old-fashioned ships, expect much bigger, and the enemy troops seemed to be coming from there…

She looked desperately in the chaos for Koopie and Koops and finally found Koopie, surrounded by Hammer Brothers, her husband in a similar plight not that much farther away… at first, Mary was unsure of what to do, when suddenly, from deep inside her chest a cry of rage and distress ripped it's way out and she found herself barreling down the slope at a terrific pace, her right hand held behind her, her index and middle fingers held next to one another.

Between the points of her two fingers a trail of flame appeared and she brought her fiery wrath down upon two unfortunate Hammer Bros and leapt away nimbly as they attempted to strike back. She made her way through the melee, heading towards the giant ship that seemed the source of all the trouble, beating the crap out of any Hammer Bros stupid enough to get in her way.

---

"Master Larry! She's heading right for us! What do we do!"

"Take off, she'll never reach us before we lift off."

"Yessir!"

---

"Oh no you don't!" Mary yelled as she watched the ship lift off the ground and leapt desperately at the ship, grabbing onto the chain that tethered the anchor in place.

---

"She's onboard, sir! What do we do now!"

"The ship's main defenses'll take care of her for sure!"

---

Mary's adrenaline rush was wearing off and she found herself completely exhausted, when suddenly she heard cannon fire and ducked as a good-sized cannonball just about collided with her head.

"Whatcha' tryin' ta' do, kill me!" Mary shouted, then suddenly realized that, indeed, they were trying to kill her. "Oh fudge…"

Mary scrambled along the ship's deck, dodging traps and cannonballs until she came to a silver pipe. "Why is it always pipes?" Mary peered down the pipe… just as dark and fathomless as the last one… then she leapt in, hoping perhaps it would take her back reality…

Nope, instead it took her to a strange room inside the ship, where a weird reptile-y kid with a brilliant blue mohawk was apparently waiting for her.

"Heh, you're what King Dad was so worried about?" The blue haired freak scoffed, baring fangs, "A Goomba coulda' made it here faster!"

"Hey!" Mary wasn't quite sure what a Goomba was, but she was pretty sure he was insulting her. She couldn't help but respond just as rudely, "What cha' waiting for, lizard boy?"

"My name's Larry! Remember that!" Larry growled and in one fluid motion the koopaling had drawn his wand and fired a blast at Mary. Caught off guard, Mary was clipped by the blast, which burned as it hit her left shoulder, and it was all she could do to keep herself from crying out in pain.

She quickly recovered however, and ran at the koopaling, leapt over him and his second blast of magic, then spun around quickly and smashed his face in as he spun around to follow her motion. Larry reeled back in shock as he clutched his face in pain, his snout was bleeding from the force of the blow she delivered.

"Well, my name's Mary, remember that!" Mary mocked, and flipped her hair as she turned her back on the koopaling.

"THIS ISN'T OVER!" Larry roared as he fired another blast of magic at Mary's back. Caught off guard a second time, the blast connected with her back and she fell to her knees and cried out in pain. Larry approached her cautiously, wand pointed at her, ready for any tricks… Mary spun around, leapt to her feet and charged the koopaling, delivering three swift blows, two to his face and one to his stomach.

Larry coughed as blood came out of his mouth, as well as one of his fangs. He wasn't mortally wounded but he knew he was beat… if he continued to fight he'd no doubt be killed by this girl, who he was now convinced was definitely Mario's reincarnation. He raised his wand for the last time and a bright white light enveloped himself and the ship…

---

Mary found herself atop the hill overlooking the village, the Hammer Brother army was fleeing and the sun was rising on a new day full of hope. Mary walked slowly down the hill, but halfway down, pain shot through her shoulder and her back.

During the fight, she'd been immune to the pain caused by her wounds, but now she was feeling the full effects of Larry's magic blasts. Fortunately Koops met her on the way up and supported her as she walked.

"Let's hear it for Mary! Hooray! We have seen the rise of a new hero, one who can finally stand against Bowser's tyranny!"

(A/N: End of second chappie… don't expect the next one to be uploaded as fast as these last few, 'k? And to those of you who were hoping to see Mario reappear in this fic… it's not gonna' happen, although Luigi and Peach are going to reappear much, much later in this fic(though possibly sooner if desperately requested), oh, there I go with the spoilers… anyway, I have it all planned out in my head. And if you're dreading all the Koopaling battle scenes because you think they're all going to take place in their airships, you'll be pleasantly surprised to discover otherwise later. I was also planning on a sequel, but only if I get enough reviews… so review, review!)


	4. Chapter Three: Preparations

Rebirth of a Star

Chapter Three: Preparations

"Larry! What in world are you doing here?" A koopatrol queried as he saw Bowser's youngest son walk out of the doomship docking area. As the koopatrol got a closer look at the prince however, he soon figured out why… Larry's face was covered in blood.

"Get me King Dad…" Larry growled to the subordinate. The koopatrol considered questioning the prince, but thought better of it. Larry looked like he was ready to tear someone apart if they provoked him.

"Yessir."

---

"Presenting Prince Larry Koopa, your majesty!" Two koopatrols announced as the double doors swung open to reveal the battered prince.

"Larry… you failed me…" Bowser growled, sounding almost disappointed.

"She was stronger than first expected, King Dad and she does have special talents… not a fireball, kinda' like a line of fire…"

"I guess you've served your purpose then… very well… you can go, but don't think I forgot your failure, you will be punished eventually." Larry's own words were coming back to haunt him.

"Don't forget to warn Morton… there's a warp pipe that's leads ta' Desert Land real close ta' Flora Village." Larry called out as he left the throne room, heading to his room to get some well earned rest…

"Hey Larry! What're you doin' here? I thought you were out ruling Grassland," a young sounding voice squealed as Larry was about to go into his room.

"Junior?" Larry questioned, wondering what his younger brother doing here… he was supposed to be in Isle Delfino doing… "research".

"Hey, that's a real nice shiner you got there! Almost beats out the one Roy gave me for stealing his sunglasses!" Junior grinned as he adjusted bandana in an attempt to look cool…

"Yeah… Junior… what're you doing here, anyway? I thought you were… ya' know… doing 'research' on Isle Delfino."

"Pa said somethin' about some reincarnation of Mario was reaking havoc in Grassland…"

"Oh."

"So he's the one who gave ya' the shiner, huh?"

"She, Junior, she," Larry corrected.

"You got beaten by a girl! Oh man I can't wait ta' tell the others!" Junior giggled.

"I'm sure they'll find out on their own, soon…"

---

Koopie was rubbing a salve on Mary's burns, while Koops was bandaging some of the other Koopa men who had gotten involved in the battle against the Hammer Bros.

"Ow! Not so hard!" Mary winced and pulled away.

"I'm being as gentle as I can, now get back here and sit still! The sooner this is done the better," Koopie scolded the young woman, who grudgingly came and sat back down.

"The salve should help make the burns heal faster… however I've never used it on magical burns, so can't guarantee they'll heal without scarring," Koops explained as he took a handful of the healing salve and rubbed it on a Koopa's face. In less than thirty seconds the burn had almost completely vanished.

"It seems we'll have to patch up your clothes as well…" Koopie observed. The entire left side of her shirt was pretty much burned off as was about two thirds of the back.

"We'd be happy to fix it!" A few of the Koopa women smiled as they moved to take off the shirt.

"I have a better idea, why don't you make me a new shirt instead?" Mary suggested as they began to remove the tattered shirt.

"Yes, it probably would be easier just to make a new shirt," one them said. "You just wait, we'll make you the greatest outfit ever!"

"Thank you girls, now if you'll excuse us, Mary and I need to have a little chat," Koops said as he bandaged up the last Koopa man and beckoned to Mary to follow him.

Once they were a good distance away from everyone Koops looked at Mary.

"What's up?" Mary asked as she tilted her head.

"Oh… err… That's what I was gonna' ask you, actually… what're you gonna' do now?"

"Well… what is there to do?"

"We can handle things here… however…"

"However?"

"Everyone in the entire Mushroom Kingdom… is subject to Bowser's tyranny…"

"So… I guess… that means… I should… help them too…"

"…"

"Koops…?"

"Yes?"

"How many provinces or states or whatever you call 'em, are there in the Mushroom Kingdom?"

"There are seven areas; Grass Land, Koophari Desert, Water World, Giant Island, Sky World, Iced Land and the Pipe Maze…"

"And what about that creep in the weird ship?"

"His name's Larry, he is the ruler of Grass Land and one of Bowser's eight children…"

"Eight?"

"Yes, one of them each rule a part of the Mushroom Kingdom, except the eighth, who hasn't been seen for a while, supposedly he is doing some secret 'research' for Bowser…"

"Let's hear a bit about the ones I should worry about…"

"Well, you've already dealt with Larry… I don't know a lot about the others, I'm sorry."

"S'alright. So where's the nearest area?"

"There's a pipe that leads to Koophari Desert not to far to the west… I'll take you there tomorrow… I think you should take it easy for today…"

"Koops?"

"Yeah?"

"Am I really all that much like the Mario you knew?"

"Well…yes and no… Mario didn't have the thirst for knowledge that you do… but when I saw you barreling down that hill at top speed… the trail of flame… I swore I saw him in your… the way your eyes shone… they shone the same way Mario's did…"

"…"

"Mary?"

"Hmm…?"

"You are a different person, with a different destiny…"

"Thanks Koops, that's what I really needed to hear…"

Mary happily rejoined the villagers in celebrating the defeat of Larry and the liberation of their area. Many asked for Mary to tell them what happened in the airship, and Mary obliged, telling the story until her voice grew hoarse and she chose to retire for the night.

---

The next morning Mary woke up early, before Koops and Koopie and began to pack up… while looking for something that could last sitting in a backpack that wasn't refrigerated for days, she came across a parcel sitting on the kitchen table. Pinned to it was a small card, which read: To Mary. Mary opened the parcel slowly and smiled as she realized what it was… the outfit the girls in the village said they'd make for her. There was a beautiful red vest and a blue t-shirt, the exact same tone of blue as her jeans, and she pulled something else from the package… a red hat with a white circle in the front, and inside the circle was a red "M".

"They didn't…" Mary spun around to see Koops staring at the hat, and Koopie standing next to him.

"They didn't what?" Mary didn't quite understand what all the fuss was about; after all, it was just a hat, right?

"Never mind… Trying to sneak off without saying goodbye?" Koops hastily changed the subject, hoping that Mary would be distracted from her question. He wasn't disappointed.

"Yeah… goodbyes were always hard for me…" Mary sighed, "I'm such a softie…"

"Think of it this way… if you weren't so in touch with your feelings, you wouldn't be a very good hero…" Koopie piped up, getting a smile out of Mary, who nodded in agreement.

"You'll always be welcome here, after you finish your business, of course…" Koops smiled as he filled two canteens with water and handed them to Mary. "You'll need these… and maybe these too…" Koops pulled some strange items out of cupboards and tossed them into the sack…

"Do you mind if I go get changed?" Mary asked as she picked up her new outfit.

"Not at all…"

---

"So… how do I look?" Mary asked as she stepped back into the kitchen…

"Oh! You look… sharp…" Koopie smiled as Mary twirled around.

"Nice…" Koops commented without even looking up from a sheet of paper.

"What's that?" Mary asked, leaning over Koops' shoulder.

"A map, you see, there's only one warp pipe in all of Grassland that leads outside of it's borders and it leads to Koophari Desert, which leads to Water World, which leads to Giant Island, which leads to Sky World, which leads to Iced Land, which leads to the Pipe Maze, which leads to Darkland…"

"Wow…"

"Yeah… so I think you might need this…" Koops smiled as he handed her the map, which she hastily stuck in her jeans pocket.

"Anything else?"

"Nope… I'll take you to the pipe though, if you want…"

"Thanks, but no thanks…"

"Oh! I almost forgot! I have a letter for a friend in Koophari Desert, her name's Goombella… would you mind delivering it, too?"

"Not at all!"

"Thanks!"

---

Mary looked hesitantly at the green pipe, wishing there was a better method of travel… Mary steeled herself as she leapt into the pipe.

She regained consciousness atop a huge mound of sand… and instantly started panting… the place was unbearably hot…

"Shade… air conditioning… ice…" Mary muttered, trying to keep her mind focused on cold things in an attempt to escape the heat… it wasn't working. She had only gone about fifty paces when she collapsed… "Too hot!"

(A/N: Yeah, I'm just gonna leave it here for now… I know, I know, you were all hoping I'd just have Mary fight Morton this chapter, but for the most part I had an explanation chapter, with a small piece of the villians' scene because writing fight scenes is really hard when you have next to no experience writing them… this is actually my first piece of writing to ever feature fight scenes… So I think I'm doing pretty good, don't you? I know I said I'd try to squeeze Peach or Luigi in this chapter, but I just couldn't find a good spot for it (However Bowser Jr appears, which I wasn't planning on doing)! Anyway I'll leave you with request that you review, and thanks to ebtwisty and Gantz Gun who are giving just the reviews I was hoping to receive! I really appreciate criticism I can build on!)


	5. Chapter Four: Mind Games

Rebirth of a Star

Chapter Three: Mind Games

"Hey! Are you alright?" A female voice asked… Mary was getting around to answering when suddenly she was splashed with water. Cold water!

"Oh! That's cold!" Mary gasped as she felt the water trickle down her back…

"Give her some space, she's waking up!" another voice, high-pitched, but obviously male said.

"Unh? Where am I?" Mary muttered as she drew herself up, but as she rose a sudden sensation of dizziness overtook her and she fell back to the ground.

"Hold still now, you were suffering from heat stroke when we found you… chances are you're still a little dizzy," the female voice said again, emanating from a strange mushroom-ish looking thing with a blond ponytail. Mary sat there, waiting for the dizziness to wear off.

"You're really lucky y'know, if we waited for a few more minutes, Morton woulda' found you and then you'd have been doomed!" a toadstool-esque looking… thing said as it sat down beside the mushroom-ish thing with the ponytail.

"But- who are you? What are you?" Mary stammered as she found her voice.

"Oh! Well, I'm Goombella, I'm a Goomba…"

"And I'm Toad, a Mushroomer, formerly Princess Peach's retainer until I was enslaved here."

"Goombella? I know that name sounds familiar… Oh wait! I have a letter for you, from Koops!" Mary exclaimed, handing the Goomba the envelope… "I have a question…"

"Yes?"

"You have no hands… how are you holding the letter?"

"Umm…"

"Never mind. Stupid question. Forget I asked."

"Consider the question forgotten…" Goombella sighed as she opened the letter, and proceeded to read it silently to herself. "I see…"

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"What does it say?"

"I'm sorry, but that's private…"

"Oh…"

"Don't sound so disappointed," Toad said cheerfully.

"Right. So who's the boss around here?" Mary said bitterly, deciding that she had wasted enough time.

"Morton Koopa Junior, and he's expecting you, so maybe you should wait a little until he drops his guard, and then strike when his defense is down," Goombella advised.

"I'm not going to wait, I want to get this done as soon as possible. If what Koops said is true than the few days I've spent here is almost equivalent to half a month on Earth…"

"I thought so… well, if you're just going to rush in like that… at least wait until morning… it's a little cooler in the mornings," Toad smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder. "You should rest for now…"

"You're right…" Mary sighed, feeling drained, "I'm sorry I lost my temper, it's just- I- sometimes it's just so hard to take it in all at once. I've had to adapt so fast… it's just-I feel so pressured, the weight of this world's on my shoulders, if I mess up once… it's all over."

"I know what you mean, at first it was a fun little quest for treasure… but then things got so serious… it was kinda' surreal, to this day it still seems more like a dream than reality," Goombella reminisced, getting a look a of intrigue from her two companions. "Never mind… it's late and I'm just babbling, let's get some sleep…"

---

"Mary… time to get up!" Toad squealed in the young woman's ear. Mary simply pulled her hat over her ears and curled up tighter.

"Mary, wake up… I thought you were in a hurry…" Goombella muttered, not quite up to full perkiness herself. Toad, however was completely awake and very energetic, and was tugging at Mary's collar in an attempt to rouse her. Eventually Mary was roused and functioning properly, and they sat there and ate a small breakfast.

"So… where might I find this Morton character? On his airship?" Mary queried as they ate.

"Not likely… Morton's main base of operations is a pyramid… we have a tunnel system, put in place by the Monty Moles, since it's usually too hot to walk anywhere after about 10:00 in the morning, you can use that to get there, but after that you're on your own," Goombella said as Mary rose.

BOOM! Suddenly everything shook as an explosion occurred in the entrance tunnel.

"You mutineers, radicals and rebels thought you could hide from me here? You have bamboozled, fooled, tricked, hoodwinked and deceived yourselves!" a voice called through the haze of dust emanating from the entrance. A figure stepped out of the dust, tossing a bomb with eyes in the air. Upon catching sight of Mary, however the creature grinned and stopped tossing the bomb.

"So, you're Morton, huh?" Mary asked, folding her arms, apparently unimpressed.

"Yeah, so you're the reincarnation, the re-embodiment, of our most hated, reviled, loathed, detested, and disliked enemy, opponent, adversary, foe, antagonist and rival, huh?"

"You talk too much, ya' know that? Quit wasting my time…" Mary growled, irritated, eager to get this over with.

"You wanna' fight? Ok then, let's fight!" Morton said, tossing the bomb at Mary. Mary swung her arm and the trail of flame appeared, striking the bomb, causing it to explode in front of her, harmlessly. Then she extended the trail towards Morton, who put up his arm in an attempt to defend himself. However, the flame wrapped around his arm, causing it to sizzle as it burned. Morton cried out in pain as he pulled away.

"That sounded like it hurt…" Mary taunted. Morton growled.

"It's kinda' funny, odd, strange… you really are a lot like him you know, despite the fact that you're a girl, female, a being of feminine persuasion…" Morton grinned as he noticed Mary's brave face falter for a split second as a reaction to his observation. She wasn't as sure of herself as she wanted him to think she was. Just like Mario…

"What're you smiling about?" Mary said angrily.

"You're just a puppet of fate and destiny, even if you do succeed, triumph, win against me, you will still have thousands of other trials to endure just as your predecessor before you, and just like him you will die, it's a never ending cycle, circle, chain of events. You are destined to die, to fail."

"Y-you're wrong," Mary stammered, all confidence gone.

"Really and truly? You're doing exactly what he did eight years ago… you're no different from him."

"It may be true, that I'm repeating his actions… but… my method… my personality, while it may be similar, is not Mario's, I am not him, and I will not fall as he did. I will rise up, I am this land's only hope, failure is not an option!" Mary cried, tears streaming down her face as she charged Morton, who was caught off guard.

She tackled the Koopaling to the ground, and pinned him there with all her strength. Then she placed her hands around his neck… at first Morton thought she was going strangle him to death, but when she didn't tighten her grip… suddenly he found out why, as a burning sensation traveled from his neck all along his spine. He tried to scream out in pain, but his voice just wouldn't comply… and just as sudden as the pain had set in, it had disappeared. Morton looked once again at Mary, her face an emotionless mask…as the blackness enveloped him… the sweet, cool, painless black, he swore he heard her whisper, "I'm sorry… it had to be done."

(A/N: Don't worry Morton fans… if there are any out there… Morton's not dead. And questions and requests… Yes, I got the name Koophari desert from the movie, I'm sorry this wasn't near as efficiently posted as the other chapters, and again… no Peach or Luigi… argh! And thank you Sailor Taichi Vegeta, ebtwisty, and GantzGun for reviewing and PeasleysParakeet, ebtwisty(again) and GantzGun(again) for faving this fic! And the chapters are only going to be more spread out from here on… exams are coming up… sigh I hate it when I'm too busy to write. So little to do and so much time… strike that, reverse it. I really would like to have this finished before June13... but I don't think it's gonna' happen... oh well. I'm sorry once again for having you wait so long for a short chapter...)


	6. Chapter Five: Wendy Makes a Splash

Rebirth of a Star

Chapter Five: Wendy Makes a Splash

"What did you do to him?" Toad asked as he prodded Morton's prone form.

"I don't know, but I don't want to stick around to find out!" Mary said, turning away from the defeated Koopaling, "Chances are he ordered his troops to raid this place if he didn't come out within a short time of entering… we should get out of here, as quickly and as secretly as we can."

"The entrance to the tunnels are just down the hall," Goombella said nodding her body in the direction of the tunnels.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Mary said, "I think I hear them coming up the hall, we don't have any time to waste!" The group plunged deep into the hallways and catacombs of the base.

"This is where we part ways… if you keep going in that direction you'll reach the Warp Pipe for Water World in no time… we have to go back and evacuate the others…" Goombella said as the trio stopped to rest. Mary looked unsure at first, but then nodded,

"There's nothing more I can do here." Mary rose and dusted herself off, and ran off ahead. Goombella looked after her… _I think she really is capable of freeing the Mushroom Kingdom from Bowser's tyranny… But Koops was right about her hesitation to be a "puppet of destiny"…Morton proved that…would she abandon us just to defy destiny like Koops believes? Somehow I just don't think so…and yet…I watch her leave and I get so nervous…_

---

"So what's the diagnosis, Kamek, Kammy?" Bowser asked, standing outside the Koopa Castle Hospital Wing, accompanied by his two youngest children.

"Your wretchedness, it was most definitely a powerful fire-based spell, I healed him, there will be no lasting damage-" Kammy began, but Kamek interrupted her.

"However, due to the amount of magic concentrated around his throat, Morton will be… silent for a time, approximately a week," Kamek shot in, determined to get the last word.

"You mean… Morton can't talk… for a whole week?" Larry asked, grinning at Junior, who grinned back.

"Yes, and don't you tease him about it, he's probably distressed enough as it is without you two making it worse." Kammy said, wagging her finger at the pair.

"We wouldn't dream of it, would we, Larry?" Junior asked, looking as cute and innocent as possible.

"No, not us Miss Kammy, you must have us confused with some other Koopalings," Larry grinned as he rocked back and forth on his heels. Kammy looked at them skeptically, then sighed,

"Boys will be boys."

---

Mary coughed as she dragged herself onto the shoreline. When she went down the Warp Pipe in Desert Land the last thing she expected was to reappear 20 ft. underwater. Fortunately for her people tend to float and she quickly reached the surface and was carried to the beach by a current.

"Well, I guess it's not called Water World for nothing…" Mary groaned as she wrung out her hat and hair, "Man, saltwater tastes nasty!" She grimaced as she looked back at the ocean, she had always hated the beach, with its jellyfish and hornets nests and crabs and who knows what else was lurking in the water. She began walking down the beach when suddenly she heard someone exclaim:

"Oh Miss Wendy, you look simply ravishing!"

"Of course I do Leon, but is this suit too skimpy or not skimpy enough?"

"I think it's perfect, darling!"

"Then what are you waiting for? Roll film!"

"You're on!"

Mary came over the crest of the dune to see the set of a film; cameras and lights were everywhere, and standing in the center of the action was another one of the Koopalings, a girl for once. She was in a pale purple bathing suit, but what Mary found oddest was the fact that the Koopa girl was completely and utterly bald, however she wore a pink bow with white polka dots to cover it up.

The Koopa girl was rambling about beachwear, but stopped mid-sentence when she caught sight of Mary, who smiled and waved. Suddenly the Koopa girl leapt over the camera crew and charged Mary, who leapt into air to avoid her assault. Mary tried to summon her fire, but since she was still damp all that happened was a jet of steam came off her fingers. The camera crew fled, screaming, however one Koopa Troopa remained, and was filming the battle eagerly.

Wendy spun on her heel and quickly leapt at Mary, who sidestepped her and Wendy got a face full of sand. She could hear Mary laughing at her… ridiculing her. Wendy growled and leapt up, and before Mary could so much as blink, Wendy slashed at Mary's face. Mary reeled back, clutching her face in pain, the blood from the wound dripping out from in between her fingers.

"No one laughs at Wendy O. Koopa and gets away with it," Wendy smirked, walking away.

"Where do you think you're going? I'm not done yet…" Mary moaned, laying her bloody hand on Wendy's shoulder.

"Oh, gross! Get your bloody hands off me! You're going to cover my designer swimsuit in your disgusting-"

WHAM! Mary's fist connected with Wendy's face, and Wendy simply collapsed into the sand. Mary tapped the fallen Koopaling with her foot, but there was no reaction.

"That was easy…" Mary acknowledged, and grimaced as her wound stung. She didn't even notice the Koopa with the camera as she unfolded the map Koops gave her. "Okay, so I'm here… so the pipe should be somewhere in that direction…" Mary muttered as she wandered off in the direction she came from.

---

"Welcome back, Wendy," Larry taunted as Wendy headed to the throne room to report to their father.

"Bite me!"

"Oh, is someone in a bad mood?"

"Listen, I have a pounding headache, my newest swimsuit has a bloodstain on it the size of Iced Land, and now I have ta' tell Daddy I failed, SO JUST SHUT UP!"

"Was it a total loss?"

"Nope, Leon managed to get our fight on tape…"

"Ah, to study her fighting style?"

"Yep. And we have a picture of her, so we can send out wanted posters, too."

"It's not like humans are particularly rare, you know…"

"SHUT UP!"

(A/N: I know, I know, yet another obnoxiously short and poorly written chapter… It's just that I don't like Wendy or Morton much, no offense to those that do, and lately I've had a nasty writer's block and- oh, so much to deal with! Fortunately, my writer's block has been vanquished and I happen to like the next Koopaling, so hopefully the next chapter will be better and longer! And to readers new and old I thank you for taking the time to read and review my story! And I keep forgetting my disclaimer! All characters portrayed here, aside from Mary, belong to Nintendo, and I thank them for not suing me!)


	7. Chapter Six: Ignite

Rebirth of a Star  
Chapter Six: Ig-nite

Mary had been on Giant Island for four hours now, and hadn't seen any sign of civilization, other than a few giant Koopa Troopas…

Mary sighed as she relaxed on the bank of a river; she felt she was relatively safe… I wonder if it's safe to drink the water…She crawled over to the edge of the river, and peered in.

As she looked in she caught sight of her reflection in the water and grimaced… The wound Wendy delivered to her face was beginning to fester, her hair was a mess and she had bags under her eyes. But she also noticed other changes in her features… for example she looked far more mature, and her eyes seemed to shine brighter now.

"Maybe I should have a bath… I mean, I haven't had one for days," Mary reasoned… the water didn't look like it was infested with piranhas or any other flesh eating fish, the water was a bit chilly, but she could deal with that.

As she went to remove her clothes, she was startled as she felt the earth shake. She whirled about, looking wildly for the cause of the disturbance, which revealed itself to be two giant Hammer Bros. at least three or four times the size of the ones she had seen in Grassland. Just as she began hoping that they hadn't noticed her, one of them pointed her out and the pair approached her, swinging their hammers wildly.

Mary prepared to dodge when one of the Brothers leapt up into the air and came crashing down next to her, knocking her off balance. This left her open to the other Brother's attack, which sent her flying hard into the foliage of a nearby bush. She didn't even have time to sit up before they were upon her again. She rolled to the left to avoid the first hammer only to be hit by the second and sent flying farther, smashing backwards into a tree trunk.

She groaned as she tried to pull herself up, and then gasped in pain when she tried to put weight on her right leg. No doubt in her mind, it was broken at best. She still attempted to "run" with the broken limb, she didn't get very far however, before the giant Hammer Bros. caught up with her, their heavy footfalls causing her to once again lose her balance and land hard on her front, knocking the wind out of her and making her realize the pain in her chest. Great, just great, broken leg, cracked ribs, infected cut, what next? A coma?

The pair bent down to inspect Mary, unsure if she was dead or just playing possum. Most creatures would be dead after receiving such an onslaught, but they heard that this girl fought like a demon, that she was invincible, and numerous other tales, so one of them cautiously picked the girl up by her waist. Instantly she cried out in protest, wriggling and squirming, trying to free herself from his grasp. This made him tighten his grip, and again she cried out, this time in pain. He loosened his grip slightly, and was surprised when the girl did not attempt to escape a second time.

As he inspected closely he uncovered the reason… the girl was unconscious. He looked to his partner, who produced a large cage and they set her gently inside.  
---  
"Paul, why do we have to do this?" The giant Hammer Brother who'd picked the girl up asked, as he looked to his partner who carried her cage.

"Do what, Greg?" Paul responded, confused.

"This," Greg said, issuing to the girl inside the cage, "I mean, she never hurt us, and look what we did. You can't tell me you don't feel a little guilty about it."

"I may feel guilty about it, but it's our duty. Sledge Brothers have been serving the Koopa Klan for centuries, man, and don't you remember what happened to that last group of renegades we had here about a year ago?"

"Yeah, that was horrible." Greg shuddered, recalling the public executions.

"Now, I know you're just a new recruit and that you're not used to stuff like this… but it's a fact of life…"

"I know; I don't want to die, so I do my duty."

"Good soldier."

"Paul, it's starting to get dark; maybe we should set up camp for the night."

"Yeah, it's still another 17 miles to the castle, and I can hardly see my claws in front of my bill."  
---  
Mary awoke to the sounds of a campfire crackling and voices rumbling. She attempted to scramble to her feet, but her broken leg refused to handle the weight, causing her to cry out in pain.

The two giant Hammer Brothers looked at her. One bent down to see if she was all right.

"Hey, you oughta' be more careful… I'm surprised you can move at all, considering the shape you're in…" he said, careful not to get too close to the bars.

"Yeah, you guys sure did a number on me," Mary sighed, scratching the back of her head.

"Hey! You hungry?" The other giant called, waving around a mushroom shish kabob.

"Yeah, very hungry," Mary said, surprised to realize just how hungry she was.

"Well, too bad! You can't have any!" the giant laughed, still waving the shish kabob around.

"Paul! That's just cruel!" the other cried, turning towards his partner, then back to Mary, "Please forgive my commander, he's just nervous."

"Nervous?" Mary asked, pulling herself into a sitting position.

"Yeah. You should hear some of the rumors about you, stuff like you're a demon… you can fly, all kinds of things…"

"None of which are true…" Mary sighed.

"Greg! Could you give me a hand putting out the fire?" Paul called, as he sloshed a bucket of water on the fire, making it shrink considerably.

"Yessir," Greg saluted, and got a bucket of sand and dumped it on the fire, effectively extinguishing it. "Good night, miss."

"No fraternizing with the offender, soldier."

"My apologies, sir."  
---  
Long after her captors had fallen asleep, Mary lay there, troubled by the pain in her chest and her leg still ached something awful… She could never remember such pain before… She had led such a sheltered life, this was the first time she'd ever broken anything… Was the pain worth it? She'd always imagined herself the heroic type, and for the most part things had been pretty simple… At the beginning anyway, she had allies, but now… On her own… things were different.  
---  
Morning had long since broken when Mary awoke at last. She looked through the bars of her cage, and in the distance she could see a castle. She looked at it ominously; knowing that somewhere in that castle was the Koopaling who ruled this land. She hoped that despite the damage she sustained yesterday she would still be capable of fighting.

The two giant Hammer Brothers trudged on silently. One seemed to have gained a black eye overnight, and the other looked very pleased. She suspected that Greg was the one who had received the black eye as punishment for fraternizing with the enemy.  
---  
By midday she and her captors had arrived at the castle, and the pair were happily presenting her to the Koopaling who sat on the throne. This Koopaling had glasses with very thick lenses, and rainbow colored hair spiked up in a Mohawk. He was the spitting image of one of those stereotypical geeks you see on T.V.

"Hmm… Good job boys… but did you really have to damage her so badly? King Dad wants her fighting fit, you know. Oh well, I'll deal with it myself," the koopaling said, waving the pair away. Paul frowned in dissatisfaction.

"Iggy, sir? What about our reward?" Paul queried, claws on his hips. Iggy smiled knowingly and shook his head.

"You don't receive your reward until the offender is safely transported to King Dad," Iggy explained. "Now leave!"

"But-" Paul started, but Greg put a cautionary hand on his commander's shoulder, shaking his head. "Yessir." The pair exited swiftly, leaving the doors wide open.

While this conversation had been going on Mary had been melting the bars of the cage, so now she could escape. Mary scrambled towards the door, but didn't get very far, as her leg once again reminded her that it was broken.

Iggy watched as she cried out in pain and fell, feeling what may have been pity, but he quickly erased the feeling, focusing on the task at hand. Raising his wand he closed and locked the doors.

Iggy raised his wand once more and fired a blast, similar to Larry's, but far more powerful. She took the blow and was blasted into the far wall. She recovered quickly and sent a burst of fire at the offending Koopa. Iggy hissed as the jet of flame came from her open palm, scorching his shoulder. She grinned as she heard his scales sizzle and opened fire on the Koopaling, who leapt to avoid the onslaught and fired a blast of his own, forcing Mary back against the wall.

Mary gasped as the blast knocked the wind out of her, but still raised her hand, continuing to blast away at the airborne Koopaling. One fireball got Iggy in the arm, another in the leg, and one very large ball of flame nailed Iggy in the chest area. Iggy was sent flying to the other end of the room and lay there, flat on his shell, gasping for breath and wincing in pain. Mary limped over to the Koopaling, she eyed him fiercely and he sighed, raising his wand and unlocking the doors.

(A/N: YAY! It's done, after a month and a half of work ((or more, I lost track a while ago))… And it's relatively long! There are some parts, as always, that I was a little disappointed with, but I'm not going to edit it anymore. ((A day after I wrote this author's note I edited the Iggy/Mary fight scene)) I know I took such a long time on this chapter ((still not one of my better ones, I admit)), but with exams and summer vacation and my birthday coming up ((It's July 21st for those of you wondering)) I've been a busy little worker, and it was hard to find time to write this. However, now I'm over the hump, this story is about halfway done. ((YAY! And NO!)) Only three more Koopalings to go, and Bowser of course… And once again no Peach or Luigi, mostly 'cuz it just doesn't seem to work out in the plot. I simply assure you that they will appear again, in due time. I must thank my readers as well, mostly Razzi ((ebtwisty9)) ((Thanks for updating your own story, you inspired me to keep going)) and Sailor Taichi Vegeta, and new readers I hope you're enjoying my crazy not-so-little story. Hope to see you soon and don't forget to review!)


	8. Chapter Seven: Battle Royale

Rebirth of a Star

Chapter Seven: Battle Roy-ale

"Ow! Not so hard, Kamek!" Iggy winced and pulled away.

"I'm being gentle as I can, Ignatius," Kamek said soothingly, gently pulling Iggy back to the stool, and rubbing a salve on Iggy's shoulder.

"Don't call me that," Iggy sulked. He had told his father what happened. Bowser was… displeased…to say the least, but did not punish Iggy for his failure. Bowser had decided that the burns he'd sustained and the shame was punishment enough. Besides that, he'd have to deal with his siblings' taunts and jeers. And speaking of siblings…

"Hey, Iggy. I just heard you got back, so I came to see how bad you were," Junior grinned as he opened the door.

"As you can see, pretty bad."

"Nowhere near as bad as Morton! He can't talk and he's completely bedridden! Larry and I have been pestering him all day and yesterday too," Junior snickered. Iggy grinned when he heard this; a bedridden brother ripe for venting on… it was almost too good to be true… "Coming?"

---

Mary had long since escaped Iggy's castle, and was currently in Sky Land, staring up at a huge spiral tower that led all the way up to the clouds.

"Whoa… I hope there aren't a lot of stairs…" Mary muttered, opening the front door. She looked around… no stairs, only pipes. Mary grimaced at the thought of climbing into several pipes to get to the top. She would have preferred stairs, but she supposed that the pipes would be easier on her leg, which was healing quickly but still a little tender.

---

She snuck past most of the guards in the tower, and had finally made her way to the top. She stepped carefully onto the clouds, surprised when her foot didn't sink through the condensed water like it should. It kinda' felt like stepping on wet cotton…

She looked around searching for any more guards when something caught her eye… A small cloud. It wasn't the fact that it was floating slightly above the other clouds that bothered her, what bothered her was the fact that the cloud had a face… She stared hard at the cloud for a few minutes then shrugged and moved on. I mean, if you can walk on the clouds here, why couldn't some of them have faces?

If she had lingered in the area much longer she would have discovered the secret of that sinister little cloud. As soon as Mary was out of sight a little Koopa popped his head out of the cloud, adjusted his goggles and zipped away…

---

"Prince Roy! Prince Roy!" The Lakitu cried as he almost flew into a burly looking Boomerang Brother carrying a crate.

"Watch where you're going ya' klutz!" The Boomerang Brother growled as the Lakitu zipped cleanly over his head. The Lakitu ignored the agitated Brother, still seeking the prince.

Roy shouldn't be that hard to find; he was at least a foot or two taller than the Boomerang Brothers… Suddenly the Lakitu spotted the prince, carrying four crates onto the deck of the airship.

"Prince Roy!" The Lakitu exclaimed as he hovered next to the Koopaling.

"What is it? I'm a little busy at da' moment, so 'dis had betta' be important." Roy growled, as he turned towards the Lakitu.

"It is, sir! The girl, she made it through Spiral Cloud Tower… she's on her way…"

"We'll have ta' pick up da' pace 'den, won't we?" Roy snarled, making sure the nearby Boomerang Brothers heard him.

---

If Roy wasn't in such a rush, he would have noticed a certain young woman sneaking into the cargo hold. As she moved cautiously down the set of steps she heard two voices arguing loudly.

She cautiously looked around the hold; she saw nothing other than crates down there. She listened carefully and realized where the voices were coming from… up on deck.

Mary stiffened suddenly, as she heard heavy footfalls, and the voices approached the stairwell… without a moment's hesitation she leapt behind the crates. She squatted there, listening for the voices she heard mere seconds ago, but only silence answered.

Had they seen her? Were they searching for her right now? Suddenly the crates in front of her were pushed to either side and the hulking figures of a Koopaling and his cohort loomed over her.

"Well, well, what d'we got here? Looks like a stowaway ta' me, but what d'you 'tink Bruce?" A Koopaling at least two feet taller than Mary with crimson sunglasses remarked, as he reached out and grabbed Mary by the wrist. Mary tried to pull away, but his hand was like a vice, the harder she struggled, the tighter the grip became.

"Hey Roy! Ain't 'dat-?" The other Koopa asked.

"Yeah, no doubt in ma' mind," Roy smirked, hoisting Mary to eye level.

"Lemme' go!" Mary snarled as the Koopaling carried her towards the staircase. She grabbed his wrist with her free hand, releasing a small burst of fire.

Roy relinquished his grip quickly, hissing a stream of curses and glaring venomously at Mary. His companion, Bruce, who had been two steps ahead of him turned towards the pair, and was about to approach when Roy raised his claw to stop him.

"Keep everythin' runnin' as scheduled. I'll deal wit' 'dis!" Bruce nodded, and hurried up the stairs.

"You'll deal with me, huh?" Mary laughed, flames crackling on the tips of her fingers.

"You're pretty feisty, for a chick," Roy grinned, cracking his knuckles, "'Dis is gonna' be fun."

Mary wasted no time in charging the Koopaling, her fist full of fire. Roy strafed to the side agilely, grabbed Mary's arm and, shifting his weight, threw her halfway up the stairs. Mary lay there stunned for a few moments, but when saw Roy descending on her, his claws curled up in a fist, she rolled to the side to avoid the crushing blow, unleashing a burst of flame at the airborne Koopaling.

The fire sizzled against Roy's chest, but Roy paid it no mind as he spun to face Mary, smoke furling out of his nostrils. Mary barely managed to avoid getting roasted by the burst of flame that erupted out of the Koopaling's mouth. As Mary stood there shocked; the flaming breath had taken her by surprise, Roy wound up and punched her in the gut, flinging her onto the deck.

The deck hands scrambled to get as far away from the battlefield as possible, well aware that this could get ugly. Mary managed to land on all fours, wheezing, her eyes watering. Roy lumbered up after her.

Mary gritted her teeth as she pulled herself to her feet, and charged the Koopa prince once again. Roy backhanded her, forcing her into the air for the second time. She crashed into the sails and tumbled back onto the deck.

She scrambled to her feet to avoid Roy's punch and backed up, dodging Roy's second fist. She continued backing away, avoiding Roy's fists when she felt her back press against something. She looked behind her and stared at the ground thousands of feet below her, and realized she was pressed up against the railing of the ship.

Roy grinned as he wound up to throw the final punch, the one that would throw her right off the edge of the doomship. Mary dove between the Koopaling's legs as he threw the punch. Roy spun on his heel but saw no sign of the girl…

"Looking for me?" Mary taunted as she swung towards Roy on a beam supporting the sail. She extended her feet and…

CRUNCH! Her feet met with Roy's face in a head on collision and smashed Roy's sunglasses to pieces, the force of the blow sending the Koopaling reeling off balance and tumbling over the railing.

---

When Bowser saw The Crusher pull into the doomship port, without Roy at the helm, he knew something was amiss.

"Clear a path! Clear a path! Let us through!" Two Boomerang Brothers in white and red called out, carrying a stretcher between them. And lying on that stretcher was a comatose Roy with what looked like a broken snout, a burnt chest and a pretty much shattered shell…

"What happened!" Bowser roared, in a combination of concern and fury.

"He was thrown off the ship by the girl… He's lucky he landed on that cloud… or else he could have broken his spine…" a bespectacled Paratroopa replied, "He's expected to make a full recovery…"

"Good. What happened to the girl?" Bowser asked, even though he had no doubt that the girl got away.

"She commandeered one of our escape vessels, she was last seen heading towards co-ordinates 63, 48-"

"The warp pipe to Iced Land."

(A/N: I'm gonna' stop there! YAY! It is done! Finally! I'm not particularly pleased with the middle of this chapter but I like the opening and the fight scene... I loved writing the fight scene. And I know Boomerang Bros don't appear in Sky Land… And a warning about the next chapter: Koopaling Sock Puppet Theatre o.0 … Maybe… I say maybe because I'm not quite sure… 'cuz I was originally planning on having Wario and Waluigi appear this chapter… but due to ((in my opinion)) poor characterization, I cut them from the fic… Sorry… And another apology for the long wait, and the longer waits to come, I fear.

Thanks to Razzi for the words of encouragement, and to all you readers who remain silent… Even though I'd love it if you'd comment. Also a warm thank-you to MikariStar to her review… And there's only two Koopalings to go… Lemmy and Ludwig… and those are on my top five list of favorite Koopa's of all time. Lemmy near the bottom, Ludwig at the very top… A Koopaling story with lots of Ludwig makes Miss Lia a happy reader. pokes Razzi hinthint I'm gonna' leave you here with my usual encouragement to review. Review! Review!)


	9. Chapter Eight: Have an Ice Day

Rebirth of a Star

Chapter Eight: Have an Ice Day

"Lemmy! Come in, Lemmy! Do you read me?" A fuzzy image with rainbow hair called out.

"Oh! Hey, Iggy!" Lemmy smiled as he peered at the viewscreen, waving his claw.

"Lemmy! It's an emer-gen-cy-? What's that on your claw?" Iggy peered at the little piece of cloth and yarn that was covering his twin brother's claw.

"Oh, this?" Lemmy asked, pointing to the claw in question. "It's a-"

"Never mind, not important." Iggy interrupted, "The girl's on her way, so you better motivate your troops."

"But the Warp Pipe's in my castle… so we'll just wait for her here."

"Whatever. Oh! And King Dad says you've gotta' quit playing with dolls, or else it's the lava pit for ya'. Iggy out!" And with that said Iggy's image blinked out.

"But it's a sock puppet!" Lemmy corrected his brother, even though Iggy was no longer there.

"Oh! It's cold!" Mary whimpered, wrapping her arms around her. She had hardly been in Iced Land for more than ten minutes and already she was sick of it.

Her eyes watered as a freezing blast of wind stung her face. She was up to her knees in snow, wearing a hat, vest, a t-shirt and jeans. She was hardly dressed for this kind of weather.

Just as she thought it couldn't get any worse a little white flake drifted from the sky and landed on her nose… followed by another and another until, combined with the freezing wind, it created a nasty blizzard, and she couldn't see anything.

It was all she could do to keep herself from collapsing in the snow… She tried to light a fire in her hand but the wind and snow soon put it out, and when she tried to shelter it, she could almost feel her inner fire snuffing out, trying to maintain the small flame…

Just as she felt like giving up, her right foot sunk into the snow up to her waist; the snow promptly giving away to reveal a hole, which she also promptly fell in.

She landed less than gracefully; her injured body was barely capable of handling the rough landing and she let out a loud, high pitched yelp of pain that echoed inside the cave.

The heroine looked around the cave cautiously… But nothing popped out at her; no enemies… no nothing… Just her misty breath; though it was considerably warmer down here…

She started the fire in her palm, so glad for the warmth. She'd always hated winter. Snow and cold were her worst enemies, though the ice was nice on her ankle…

She looked around again now that she had a better light source… This wasn't just a cave, it was a tunnel! She pulled out her map to inspect it and see if the tunnel led to the castle and the Warp Pipe to the Pipe Maze

Much to her surprise the tunnel was on the map and led directly to her goal… And if it was mapped, why wasn't there any soldiers out patrolling? Biting her lip she decided not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

It was starting to get unnerving though; she'd been walking for hours with no sign of a single enemy, or anything. Just the icy tunnel walls that had absolutely no twists or turns or anything…

She hesitated to rest; it was cold, and the enemy could be just ahead, but she knew if she continued to work her ankle like this, it would never recover properly. With a sigh, she collapsed against the wall, arching an eyebrow as she felt something etched into the ice at her back.

She turned to look at the wall, and realized what she had fallen against… writing. The wall had something written on it! Maybe it was a clue! She held her flame aloft so she could read the etched words better.

"_It's been a long time since the days I was a plumber back in Brooklyn, back when things were simple, downright monotonous, actually. Then, on a routine day of managing the sewers, strange monsters began to show up… And trying to find out where those monsters came from… we ended up here._

"_We arrived to a world in chaos, and, being the good people that we are, we decided to help in any way we could. Along the way we met a lot of folks, even a princess or two… But no matter what we did, Bowser was always on the move, always ruining our hard earned peace._

"_I'm a lot of things, but a killer just isn't one of them, besides, the guy has kids. I don't even know why I'm writing this… Maybe just so someday, someone'll know what me n' my bro have been through._

"_Signed, Mario."_

She blinked, she only heard of Mario the hero… She hadn't really thought of him as a normal person before all this happened to him too. And she had no idea that he had a brother…

It was kinda scary, actually, to know that even the hero had his doubts and troubles, but then the more she thought about it, the less scary it became. She was a hero now, and she had her doubts and troubles too. Everybody did.

Now all she had to worry about was surviving these challenges, and facing Bowser at the end of it… She'd never really considered that she'd get that far before, but now she was beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel… Both literally and figuratively, as a light approached her.

She felt along the smooth walls, looking for a crevice she could slip in to hide. Unfortunately for her, there was none, so she resigned herself to battle, lighting up her fingertips.

As the light continued to approach, she could make out the shape of a Koopaling, riding atop what appeared to be a ball, carrying a lantern… He didn't seem to be looking hard or paying a lot of attention to his surroundings. He seemed to be arguing with himself about something.

Maybe if she extinguished her flames she could just walk right past him, and he wouldn't even notice her… Taking a deep breath, she extinguished her flames and watched as the Koopaling's gaze fell on her.

"…but why would Shira do that? That play made no sense…" And just like that the ball-riding Koopaling wandered right past her. After she couldn't hear the Koopaling anymore, she slid along the path he had come from.

She had to restrain a cheer when she caught sight of a pipe up ahead, relieved that she hadn't even needed to fight anything. If the last one was this easy, she had nothing to worry about.

She ran eagerly to the pipe, leaping up to dive in… And was promptly hit from behind, not by a scorching spell or a blast of fire, but by a large ball with a star on it. The force of the ball sent her flying, landing face first on the icy floor, unable to catch herself from the shock.

"Nice try!" Lemmy was so proud of himself for managing to keep her from jumping down the pipe… Though now he had another problem… An angry heroine…

She had gotten up off the floor and was now scowling at him, looking supremely annoyed. Then with a battle cry she started to charge towards him, at least until she lost her balance on the ice and fell flat on her face again.

He giggled, he couldn't help it. And the next thing he knew he was in a fit of laughter while she once again got to her feet, "Shut up!" She huffed, folding her arms, "I hate the cold."

That's when that ball from earlier, which had been ricocheting around the room, hit her in the back of the head and she went down again, "Ow!"

"If I knew it was gonna be this fun, I'd have come and found you earlier!" Lemmy giggled, rolling along towards her while she rolled onto her back, pulling her knees to her chest as he continued to approach.

When he got close enough her legs shot out, kicking the ball out from under the Koopaling, and he collapsed on top of her. At least he was small and light, as she struggled to flip him onto his back.

Meanwhile, his focus was on not being overturned and he was grabbing at anything that he could to keep him from being moved, his claws grasping at something papery before she managed to kick him off, "Who's laughing now!"

As she scrambled into the pipe, he looked at what his claws had gotten hooked on, and grinned, "Me."

"No, she got away," Lemmy confessed with a shrug.

"Lemmy…" Iggy sighed with a frown, "You've got to learn to take this stuff more seriously!"

"It wasn't a total loss though, I managed to snag this from her," The clown grinned holding up the piece of paper he'd managed to grab off of her.

"What is it? A grocery list?" Iggy rolled his eyes as Lemmy unfolded the piece of paper.

"Nope! It's her map! She's going into the Pipe Maze without a map!" Lemmy winked, while Iggy perked up immediately with a very toothy grin.

"Excellent."


End file.
